Take Me Home
by public static void
Summary: Harry and Ginny don't love each other. They're friends who like being together but don't want to commit because it's what everyone wants except them. A few weeks before their already planned wedding, they break up and go on with their lives. Ch 1/17.


Coming home after a break up was difficult, even more knowing they were about to get married and suddenly changed their minds. The good thing, Ginny thought, was that both she and Harry realized it before pronouncing their vows (the bad thing was that Ginny spent lots of time in those vows).

Their small home was too quiet, and for the first time in a lifetime, Ginny found herself wanting the sound of Harry's favorite music: a muggle band called Nirvana that she thought sounded off key in spite of everything Harry could say to defend it. She smiled, thinking of the last time he sat her down and tried to negotiate with her.

"If you like The Weird Sisters, there's no reason for you to dislike Nirvana," Harry told her, waving a compact disc in front of her.

He had looked endearing, with his bright green eyes glowing with passion over his loud music. His hands were calloused, perhaps he had been trying to learn how to play the guitar.

"The bass," she corrected herself. "He always said he preferred the bass."

There was no one to listen to her as she began to sing Heart-shaped box, wandering around the now empty house and trying to figure out what to do now.

"I might as well buy two cats and a pigeon."

Grave chuckles came from the doorstep and she turned around to see Harry. Ginny's eyes lit up and he grinned.

"I thought you might need some company."

He stuttered slightly and blushed. Ginny had never seen him like that before, and there was no way to know if it would be a good or a bad thing.

"I don't need it," she replied but went to the kitchen's cellar to grab a bottle of wine anyway. "But I'd like it."

Harry summoned the glasses from the counter, where they had been left by Demelza and her after she called her to talk about her failed relationship. "Do you know where are you going to live?"

Harry shrugged. "I'm staying at a muggle hotel," he said and smiled when Ginny poured him the wine. "It's a good place."

"It's not home."

"It will do for a while. At least until I get a job and start earning money."

Ginny spat some of her wine and Harry conjured a handkerchief for her.

"Thank you," she told him, wiping her mouth and waving her wand to clean the small splatter of wine on the couch before it could stain the fabric.

Ginny kicked off her shoes and put her feet under her, sitting more comfortably.

"What about the Auror training?"

Harry shrugged again. She noticed he tended to do that a lot, and wondered if it was Hermione's influence. She always had an answer for everything, and it could be that both Harry and Ron learned to let her answer for them. Hermione wasn't here, so Ginny lifted an eyebrow as a manner of prying for more information.

"I don't know," Harry answered, scratching his jaw before gulping down his wine and pouring himself some more. "I guess I don't want to be an Auror anymore. It was something people expected, I think."

"Like they expected us to get married."

The giggles coming from Ginny were met by a chuckle from Harry.

"A failed attempt at marriage brings out the truth out of someone," he joked, watching Ginny tilt her head to the left as she poured more wine into her glass, and then into Harry's, who already had drunk his second share.

"More than anyone can know."

From outside, sounds of children playing could be heard. Ginny scrunched her nose, reminded of her noisy childhood at the Burrow. She loved her brothers dearly, but their incessant chatter or the sudden explosions were too much for her. Maybe they were okay for Harry.

"What of the Burrow?" she asked him after a few seconds. He was, again, gulping the wine down. "Mum would let you stay for however long you need."

"I know, but I don't want questions about..."

"About us," she finished for him.

He smiled somewhat awkwardly. "Imagine me explaining to your mother why we didn't marry after I bedded you."

Ginny grinned. "Thoroughly, if I might add."

Her comment made Harry blush in spite of him being the one to prompt her to say it.

"Come on," she leaned forward to punch his shoulder lightly. "You know you did, and the whole family knows too."

"Because you're loud!" he blamed her, laughing openly and shaking his head.

"Because you're _good_ ," she replied, pouting. "I'll miss our nights."

"And mornings," Harry added, grinning.

Ginny laughed too, and to her ears, she sounded as mad as Bellatrix used to sound. "And or little escapades after practice and your training..."

"We were awesome," Harry stated, leaning back against the couch he had bought for Ginny because she fell in love with the tiny snake pattern. She threw him a small, reddish cushion and he stopped it in midair with a flick of his hand, and then sent it back to her.

"Hey! How can you come into my house and hit me with my own cushions?" they were in a middle of a fit of laughter as the glasses went to the floor, spilling the wine.

Ginny jumped on top of him and straddled him; Harry kept on laughing and tried to pinch her arms to prevent her from hitting him further with another pillow, this time a rounded, brown one.

Eventually, Harry got a hold of her wrists and made her stop. She was a couple of inches above him, and the green of his eyes had never burned brighter. His arms felt good too, holding her close without letting her go but respecting the distance they created. Ginny wasn't sure she wanted to keep the distance.

"I should go," Harry whispered, panting from the laughter and the effort of keeping Ginny at bay. She frowned.

"Do you really think that?"

He met her question with wonder in his eyes, almost as if he were surprised by her implied offer. She leaned forward.

"Do you want to go, Harry?"

His eyes stopped at her lips, and for a moment Ginny thought he would kiss her.

"No, but it's what we chose, Ginny."

She waited a few seconds before she removed herself from him, never glancing away in spite of the warmth she felt on her cheeks.

"What if we were wrong?"

He shrugged and she sighed.

As she stepped back, the wetness of the spilled wine on her feet made her grimace.

Harry made a flourish with his wrist and the wine vanished. The glasses were repaired with a flick of his hand and returned to the table.

"Let me," she said and picked up her wand, but he had already fixed the cushions and even put away the green blanket she always kept at hand because he had cold feet and would always tuck them beneath Ginny when they sat together after eating dinner.

The silence was overwhelming, but not uncomfortable. Ginny was suddenly reminded of everything she ever loved about him, and wondered what had changed between them.

"I'll come back for my stuff when I find a place."

Ginny nodded, biting her lower lip to stop herself from asking him to stay. They wouldn't be able to keep their distance if they kept on seeing each other at night, or in the mornings when they liked to share a cup of coffee in spite of everyone telling them tea was better.

"I'm going to miss you," she heard herself say.

Harry looked nervous, but he still found the will to step ahead and kiss her cheek before running for the door.

Ginny fell on the couch, and she closed her eyes trying to forget the feeling of his magic around her, the sight of his eyes piercing hers, and the tickling sensation over the spot where he held her arms.

"I already miss you."

* * *

 **I've had this idea for a looong time, and yesterday it was finally written during three hours without internet access at school D:**

This happens in early 2000, a few weeks before their wedding.


End file.
